Radio receiving station

ABSTRACT

A method of and system for locating a position in which a plurality of frequency standard devices based on the action of the natural frequencies associated with transitions between energy states in atoms and/or molecules are synchronized or phase compared at the same initial location. Two of three frequency standard devices, in a two-dimensional embodiment, are placed at transmitting stations on a known baseline. The third device is at a third station, a receiving station, which receives signals from the two transmitting stations. At each transmitting station, means are provided for producing and transmitting a radio frequency carrier signal of fixed frequency and of fixed phase under the control of the frequency standard device associated with the respective station. The radio frequency carrier signals produced at the different transmitting stations differ in frequency. The radio frequency carrier signal produced at each transmitting station is modulated with a modulating signal produced under the control of the same frequency standard device which controls the means which produce the radio frequency carrier. At the receiving station, means are provided for producing a reference signal corresponding to the modulating signal and two radio frequency signals corresponding, in frequency, to the radio frequency carrier signals transmitted, the means at the receiving station being controlled by the frequency standard device associated with the receiving station. The reference signal is compared at the receiving station with the modulating signals recovered from the radio frequency carriers to determine respective time differences, the differences representing coarse position data from which the total number of phase rotations (full lanes) the receiving station is from each of the transmitting stations are determined. The phase relationships between each of the received radio frequency carrier signals and the respective one of the two radio frequency signals produced at the receiving station are determined, the relationships representing fine position data which are measurements of the receiving station position within a given phase rotation (lane). Methods and systems for locating a position in three dimensions are also described. The fine ranges, distances within given lanes, are respectively added by a computer to respective coarse ranges, each of which represents the total number of lanes to the full lane closest to respective ones of the transmitting stations, the totals being the distances between the receiving station and each of the transmitting stations.

United States Patent [191 Elwood June 111, 1974 RADIO RECEIVING STATION [76] Inventor: Albert A. Elwood, P.O. Box 10592,

Riviera Beach, Fla. 33404 [22] Filed: Oct. 4, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 186,112

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 833,638. June 16,

1969, Pat. No. 3,613,095.

[52] US. Cl 343/112 D, 332/10, 332/16, 332/31, 343/102, 235/150.27 [51] Int. Cl. ..G01s 5/14 [58] Field of Search 343/102, 112 D; 235/15027, 150.272

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,924,820 2/1960 Dishal et al 343/112 D 3,150,372 /1964 Groth 343/112 D 3,204,241 8/1965 Bjorkman 343/112 D 3,254,341 5/1966 Broussaud 343/112 D OTHER PUBLICATIONS Digital Phase Angle Meter Control by B. P. Moore, l.B.M. Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 2, July 1960, Page 35.

Primary Examiner-Benjamin A. Borchelt Assistant Examiner-Denis H. McCabe Anorney, Agent, or F [rm-Baldwin, Wight & Brown [57] ABSTRACT A method of and system for locating a position in which a plurality of frequency standard devices based on the action of the natural frequencies associated with transitions between energy states in atoms and/or molecules are synchronized or phase compared at the same initial location. Two of three frequency standard devices, in a two dimensional embodiment, are placed at transmitting stations on a known baseline. The third device is at a third station, a receiving station, which receives signals from the two transmitting stations. At each transmitting station, means are provided for producing and transmitting a radio frequency carrier signal of fixed frequency and of fixed phase under the control of the frequency standard device associated with the respective station. The radio frequency carrier signals produced at the different transmitting stations differ in frequency. The radio frequency carrier signal produced at each transmitting station is modulated with a modulating signal produced under the control of the same frequency standard device which controls the means which produce the radio frequency carrier. At the receiving station, means are provided for producing a reference signal corresponding to the modulating signal and two radio frequency signals corresponding, in frequency, to the radio frequency carrier signals transmitted, the means at the receiving station being controlled by the frequency standard device associated with the receiving station. The reference signal is compared at the receiving station with the modulating signals recovered from the radio frequency carriers to determine respective time differences, the differences representing coarse position data from which the total number of phase rotations (full lanes) the receiving station is from each of the transmitting stations are determined. The phase relationships between each of the received radio frequency carrier signals and the respective one of the two radio frequency signals produced at the receiving station are determined, the relationships representing fine position data which are measurements of the receiving station position within a given phase rotation (lane). Methods and systems for locating a position in three dimensions are also described. The fine ranges, distances within given lanes, are respectively added by a computer to respective coarse ranges, each of which represents the total number of lanes to the full lane closest to respective ones of the transmitting stations, the totals being the distances between the receiving station and each of the transmitting stations.

18 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures POSITION LINE A /GATE 5 X L Y ERROR COORDINAI La DESIRED POSlTlON MHHEDJIIM 1 m4 sum 01 or 16 ZO .:mOm OmEwmO WMEQZEEOOU mOmmm m X JNVENTOR. ALBERT A. ELWOOD FIG. ID

PATENTEBJMI I m 3.818832 sum 02 0F T6 STATION C FIG. IB

STATION D STATION C ALTI METER ALTITUDE STATION D (SATELLITE) 1 STATION B PATENTEDJuu 1 I m4 SHEET 05 0F 16 ALBERT A. ELWODD PATENTEDJUH 1 I m4 SHEET 08 0F 16 OE I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l I I I l I I l I I I I I I I II II Q 10 m g $52 2 225m E 5&3 s E 5 @151 E U k m g 5E2 u 2 =05; 5:58 a messa e 52% 25am s E E3 3 E E z 528% a R i 2 mm r I I I I I I I I I I I l I I I I I I I l l l I l I l I L i PATENTED I RII 3;e 155L832 SHEET 08 0F 16 RETECTER REFERENCE (c) m RETECTER AORBORD (II) T FIG. 8

RIFFERENTIIITER REFERENCE (e) 7 A RIFFERENTIIITER IIoRR 0RD (f) Y A CLIPPED a INvERTER H REFERENCE 9 CLIPPED a INvERTER (h) I B "llllllllllllllllllll COUNTER (I) couNT REPREsENTs COARSE RANGE 76 I I II NW WI ZERO LINE F EXCLUSIVE (n) CROSSING 77 OR REFERENCE DETECTOR k in GATE START 80 GENERATOR PULSE CLOCK COUNTER L L SHAPER s2 (k) sToP m NI INN: A OR 8 0R D 83 (III) RETECTRR GATE a4 PULSE GENERATOR FIG. 9

PATENTETIJIIIIII ISM 3Q816L832 SHEET 10 0F 16 IIIIIIIIIII Illllli REFERENCE) Llllllllllllllllllllii NO-NOTCH TOMORRO llllllllllllllllllllli NO-NOTCH REFERENCE X0R(n) I I I I AORBORDX-ORIOI III COUNT START (A) I I COUNT STOP I RESET (r) I I I I COUNTER (s) lllllllllllllllllllllllll COUNT REPRESENTS coARsE RANGE FIG. IO

FIG. I5

(I23 I24 I25 ATOMlC FREQUENCY TRANSMHTERI cEgrik sYNTI(I )sIzER 7 (A) m MHZ {I26 [I27 TIMING CIRCUIT MODULATOR [I28 [I30 [BI ATOMIC I FREQUENCY r TRANSMITTER I ma) SYNTFSSIZER (B) 3505 MHZ [I32 I was TIMING CIRCUIT j MODULATOR PATENTEDJUN 1 1 I974 SHEET 11 [1F 16 ATOMIC FREQUENCY 3.3050MH CLOCK m 1 GATE TRANSMITTER SYNTHESIZER p] 33055NN I zERQ LINE ZERO LINE CROSSING CROSSING GATE QETECTQR QETECTQR 9] 88 FREQUENCY AND GATE SYNTHESIZER a f 93 CONTROL PULSE TTNER CIRCUIT n96 F 94 FIG. II

I I6 I? II (67 I s 0 [7 FLIP-FLOP PULSE RECEIVER LIMITER (c) AND (e) CLAMPER SHAPER I72 STOP START COUNTER L FIG l8 (1) 533351515 76 A C RESET TE DE CTQR CLOCK FREQUENCY (b) (d) LNNTER SYNTHESIZER (I73 {I77 I78 If I79 ATOMIC FREQUENCY ZEROUNE (q) RESET (i) cRQsslNe CLOCK SYNTHESIZER DETECTOR CQUNTER PATENTEIJJUN 1 1 014 3.8 1 6; 832

sum 13 0F 16 g 202 203 L200 7 Home FREQUENCY CLOCK TRANSMITTER (A) SYNTHESIZER 3.02 MHZ SYNTHESIZER MODULATOR 205 5ZI7SEC TIMING II II II CIRCUIT FREQUENCY TRANSMITTER (B) SYNTHESIZER 3.305 MH ZII 2|4 I FREQUENCY 833 I/3 v FREQUENCY ZOI SYNTHESIZER MODULATOR I0 SEC. I 3SEC.

Q I7 SEC. TIMING n n n CIRCUIT RADIO RECEIVING STATION This application is a continuation-in-part application of my co-pending application Ser. No. 833,638 filed June 16, 1969, now US. Pat. No. 3,613,095 entitled Method of and Apparatus for Locating a Position.

' BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates, in general, to a receiving station. In particular, the invention relates to a receiving station particularly suitable for use in a method and system for accurately locating a specific position.

Although both the method and the system are of general utility they are especially useful in offshore oil surveys where it is important that a specific location be accurately and precisely identified. In an operation such as an offshore oil survey two transmitting stations would be land-based whereas a receiving station would be located on an offshore vessel which can be moved to an exact location which is being sought.

2. Description of the Prior Art Many phase or time comparison systems have been developed for locating a position and are in use today. There are those based on the radar principle in which an echo or return of signal technique is used; there are those based on the use of transponders where receipt and retransmission of a signal are utilized; and there are those based on the Loran principal where time difference in the receipt of two transmitted pulses define a hyperbolic line of position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Due to the high stability of atomic clocks, which are accurate on the order of one part in or 10 no continuous synchronization between stations is required once the initial synchronization among three atomic clocks is performed or the initial phase/time relationships among the three atomic clocks are established.

The frequency of an atomic clock is detennined by atomic particle or molecular vibrations and thereby remains constant. Its accuracy is about one hundred to one thousand times as great as that of the quartz clock in which the vibration frequency changes in the course of time. Due to the constancy of the frequency of an atomic clock a new and novel system of position locating has been discovered.

Coarse range is defined as the total number of phase rotations at the carrier frequency (wave lengths) over the distance between each transmitting station and the receiving station, measured to the nearest full phase rotation in a direction along the transmitting station radials toward each transmitting station. Full phase rotations (wave lengths) or even fractions thereof may be further defined as lanes.

Fine range is defined as the position of the receiving station within a given phase rotation, or lane, measured in a direction along the transmitting station radials towards each transmitting station.

Coarse and fine ranges are combined in a computer to determine the distance to each transmitting station from the receiving station. Because of this, the system may be defined as a range-range system. The computer further may convert the ranges into position with respect to any grid or geographic reference that may be desired.

It is the principal object of the invention to provide a receiving station which includes a stable source of oscillations for developing reference time signals and ref erence frequency signals of fixed phase which are compared with received signals or signals derived therefrom.

It is another object of the invention to provide a receiving station useful in a method of and a system for locating a position.

A method of and a system are disclosed for locating a position in which frequency standard devices at transmitter locations are used to produce radio frequency carrier waves which are phase compared with signals produced at a receiving station, under the control of a frequency standard device, to provide fine position data, and modulation signals, under the control of the frequency standard devices at the transmitter locations, are placed on the radio frequency carriers, recovered at the receiving station and compared with corresponding signals produced at the receiving station, under the control of the frequency standard device at the receiving station, to provide coarse position data.

A method of and a system are disclosed for position locating in which atomic clocks or the like are utilized to provide modulated constant frequency signals having constant known absolute phase relationships with one another; the received signals are then converted into distance data by determining the phase differences of the constant frequency signals and differential positions of recovered modulation signals using a plurality of signals from an atomic clock.

A position locating system is disclosed in which no continuous synchronization between stations is required once initial synchronization is performed or phase relationshipsamong atomic: clocks established.

A position locating method and system are disclosed in which the signal transmissions are single path and do not require an echo and/or retransmission.

A position locating system is disclosed in which atomic clocks or the like are utilized to provide a plurality of signals having known phase relationships with one another and a plurality of pulses or frequency change signals having known time or phase relationships with one another to develop respectively fine and coarse position information.

A method of and a system are disclosed for locating a position in three dimensions using three transmitting stations, controlled by frequency standard devices, and a receiving station which also uses a frequency standard device to provide signals for comparison with signals received from the transmitting stations.

A method of and a system are disclosed for locating a position in three dimensions using three transmitting stations, controlled by frequency standard devices, and a receiving station which also uses a frequency standard device to provide signals for comparison with signals received from the transmitting stations, at least one of the transmitting stations being carried by a satellite.

Further features, objects, and advantages will either be specifically pointed out or become apparent when, for a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following written description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A is a diagrammatic view illustrating the use of' a method and system, in a two-dimensional arrangement;

FIG. 1B is a diagrammatic pictorial view illustrating the use of a method and system, in a three-dimensional arrangement, in which three transmitting stations are used;

FIG. 1C is a diagrammatic pictorial view illustrating the use of a method and system, in a three-dimensional arrangement, in which two transmitting stations are used in conjunction with an altimeter which can be carried on an aircraft or the like;

FIG. 1D is a diagrammatic pictorial view illustrating the use of a method and system, in a three-dimensional arrangement, in which three transmitting stations are used, one of them being carried by a satellite;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of one of the transmitting stations of the system;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of one of the receiving stations according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram in greater detail of part of a typical receiving station according to the invention; the two sheets of the drawing containing FIG. 4 are to be placed end-to-end to illustrate a complete station including a computer;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of a notch modulated transmitting station usable in a system for locating a position;

FIG. 6 is a simplified illustrative block diagram of a portion of a receiving station according to the invention usable in conjunction with notch modulated trans mitting stations of the type illustrated in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a time comparator suitable for use as the time comparator associated with the portion of a receiving station illustrated in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a number of waveforms which are useful in understanding the operation of the time comparator illustrated in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates a preferredembodiment of a time comparator which may be used as part of a modified embodiment ofv the receivershown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 shows a number of waveforms which are useful in understanding the operation of the time comparator illustrated in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of a frequency shift keyed transmitter usable in a position locating system;

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a portion of r a receiving station according to the invention usable in a system including frequency shift keyed transmitters constructed as shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. '13 is a block diagram of illustrative embodiments of two frequency modulated transmitter stations usable in a system for locating a position;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of a receiving station according to the invention usable in a system including frequency modulated transmitters constructed as shown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a simplified block diagram of illustrative embodiments of two transmitter stations usable in a system for locating aposition in which a heterodyne principle is used;

FIG. 16 is a simplified block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of a portion of a receiving station according to the invention .in which a heterodyneprinciple is used;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of a phase comparator usable in a locked heterodyne apparatus forming part of the portion of the receiving station shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a simplified block diagram of an embodi ment of a preferred phase comparator for developing fine distance data usable as part of the receiving station; and

FIG. 19 shows a number of waveforms which are useful in understanding the operation of the phase comparator illustrated in FIG. 18.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1A of the drawings, a system for locating a position will include a transmitting station A which is placed at a known position, a transmitting station B which is placed at a known position, with A and B placed on a known baseline R and a receiving station C which is at an unknown position and becomes the measured or located position.

As illustrated in FIG. 1B, a three-dimensional system for locating a position may include a transmitting station A, a transmitting station B and a transmitting station D each placed at a respective location, spaced from one another. Stations A and B are placed on a known baseline R 1 and stations B and D are placed on a known baseline R A receiving station C, illustrated as being carried by a moving aircraft, is at an unknown position and becomes the measured or located position.

As shown in FIG. 1C, a three-dimensional system for locating a position may comprise a transmitting station A which is placed at a known position, a transmitting station B which is placed at a known position, stations A and B being positioned on a known baseline R and a receiving station C shown as being carried by a moving aircraft which is at an unknown position. The aircraft carries as part of its equipment an altimeter.

As illustrated in FIG. ID, a further three-dimensional system for locating a position may include a transmitting station A, a transmitting station B and a transmitting station D each positioned at respective locations, spaced apart from one another. Stations A and B are placed on a known fixed baseline R and stations B and D are placed on a known baseline R As illustrated, station D is carried by a satellite which may be either a synchronized satellite or an unsynchronized satellite having a predictable orbit and known position at a given time. A receiving station C, illustrated as being carried by a moving aircraft, is at an unknown position and becomes the measured or located position.

The two transmitting stations illustrated here as shore-based stations A and B (FIGS. 1A and 1C) and transmitting stations A, B and D (FIGS. 1B and ID) are illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 2. The station shown is duplicated at A and B or A, B and D with the only essential difference being that different RF frequencies are transmitted from respective stations.

An atomic clock 10 provides a high frequency signal, for example 9 GH which is utilized in two ways. The high frequency signal is fed to frequency synthesizer 11 where it is reduced in frequency to a selected frequency in a range suitable for transmission over distances of up to about miles, in an exemplary system, and for accuracy of phase determination. The range may be, for example, from about 1.0 to about 5.0

MH The frequency synthesizer 11 converts the high frequency signal, from clock to one in the lower range (1.0 5.0 MH while maintaining the stability of the primary standard from clock 10. The output of frequency synthesizer 11 which is extremely accurate in its phase and frequency characteristics is fed to driver synthesizer 12 wherein it is amplified to a level sufficient to drive highly stable radio transmitter 13. The radio transmitter 13 is provided with an antenna from which a radio frequency signal of given frequency within the selected range and of precise phase and frequency is transmitted. Thus, the stability and accuracy of clock 10 is preserved and reflected in the radiated signal.

The high frequency signal from clock 10 is also fed to a frequency synthesizer 14 wherein it is converted to a given signal in the above-mentioned suitable lower range, for example from about 1.0 MH to about 5.0 MH Frequency synthesizer 14, like synthesizer 11, preserves the accuracy and stability of clock 10 and reflects the accuracy thereof in its own output which is coupled, as a synchronizing signal, to time format generator or pulse timer 15. Pulse timer 15 produces a train of pulses which are very accurately positioned with respect to one another. The pulses may be positioned, for example, at 10 second intervals.

The pulses from pulse timer 15 are fed to amplitude modulator 16 which, in turn, is arranged to modulate transmitter 13. It will be appreciated that other types of modulation could be used. For example, frequency shift keying could be provided, notch modulation could be used, and in some applications, a tone signal could be used to modulate transmitter 13 in either amplitude or frequency.

The modulations appearing on carrier signals from transmitting stations A, B and D (FIGS. 1B and 1D) or A and B (FIGS. 1A and 1C) are utilized at a moving receiving station C (FIGS. lA-lD) to produce coarse position information data, and the phase relationships of the radio frequency signals from the transmitting stations are utilized to produce fine position information.

The signal from radio transmitter 13 at station A (FIG. 1A) is received by the receiver 17 (FIG. 3) while the signal from radio transmitter 13 at station B (FIG. 1A) is received by the receiver 18 (FIG. 3). Radio frequency output signals from receivers 17 and 18 are fed to phase determining units 20 and 21, respectively, each of which compares the phase of respective radio frequency signals with the phase of the radio frequency signals from frequency synthesizers 29 and 31 which have their respective inputs coupled to atomic clock 19. The phase differences translated into digital signals, A phase A and A phase B, representative of phase difference are fed into the range computer 24 of the computer section 27 of the system and converted into two range signals indicating fine position information within a particular lane which may, for example, be 720 feet wide. Each degree of relative phase rotation in the example represents 2 feet. Of course, the outputs of phase determining units 20 and 21 do not provide lane identification.

Each of the receivers 17 and 18 is provided with amplitude demodulators, not shown, which develop pulse signals which are fed to pulse time comparators 23 and 22, respectively. Each of pulse timers 22 and 23 compares thetirne of occurrence of each of the pulse signals with the time of occurrence of pulses in a train of pulses fed to each pulse time comparator 22 and 23 from frequency synthesizer and pulse timer 41 which has its input coupled to the atomic clock 19. The pulse time comparators provide output coarse range digital signals R and R which are also fed into range computer 24, the output of which is coupled to computer 25 which provides output signals R 9 A and R 9 B representing the accurate distance station C is from each of the stations A and B, as illustrated in FIG. 1A.

The position computer 25 operates the position keeper and display 26 which converts the two ranges from shore stations A and B into precision position in any selected coordinate system. Signals R 9 A and R 9 may be either digital or analog signals and the position keeper and display may be either digital or analog or both. The atomic clock 19 is provided with a timing output signal which is used to synchronize computer 27 as illustrated generally by timing inputs z which are provided by count-down circuits, not shown, which are driven by timing signal t Alternatively, timing signal t could be directly fed into the computer 27 provided that computer 27 contained suitable count down circuits.

FIG. 4 illustrates in greater detail the instrumentation used in the offshore station when the system is being used to locate an offshore position.

Phase determining unit 20 of FIG. 3 is shown, in FIG. 4, as comprised of a phase comparator 30. Phase determining unit 21 of FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 4 as comprised of a phase comparator 32.

Frequency synthesizers 33 shown in FIG. 4 correspond to frequency synthesizers 29 and 31 shown in FIG. 3 and frequency synthesizer and pulse timer 42 correspond to frequency synthesizer and pulse timer 41 shown in FIG. 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the function of the two pulse time comparators 22 and 23 illustrated in FIG. 3 is performed by a single pulse time comparator 34 which has its pulse inputs from receivers 17 and 18 and provided via a multiplexer 43, and its outputs representative of coarse ranges A and B data fed to computer 27 via de-multiplexer 44.

Digital outputs from phase comparators 30 and 32 are fed respectively to digital range computers 35 and 36 as fine position data, while outputs from pulse time comparator 34 are fed respectively to digital range computers 35 and 36 as coarse position data.

The two digital range computers 35 and 36 process their respective data inputs to provide output signals representing the fine (accurate) range of station C from stations A and B respectively.

The outputs from digital range computers 35 and, 36 are fed to digital position computer 37 associated with data storage apparatus 39 which provides baseline and shore base station information. Using stored information from apparatus 39, digital position computer 37 translates the fine (accurate) position data supplied from range computers 35 and 36 into position signals R 9 A and R 9 B which are fed to digital/analog storage generation and display device 31,. the output of which is fed to position display 40.

Device 31 is provided with storage means which contains phase correction data reflecting the initial absolute phase differences between three atomic clocks. Additional stored information, as desired, may be pro- 

1. A radio receiving station comprising means for receiving a plurality of r.f. signals, each said r.f. signal having a respective time signal modulated thereon, demodulating means for recovering the respective time signals from each of said plurality of r.f. signals, a single stable source of oscillations, means responsive to said source of oscillations for producing respective time reference signals corresponding to each of the recovered time signals, means responsive to said source of oscillations for producing reference frequency signals of predetermined fixed phase, means for comparing each of said time signals with said time reference signals, and means responsive to said plurality of r.f. signals and said reference frequency signals for determining the phase of each of the plurality of r.f. signals with regard to respective said reference frequency signals of predetermined phase.
 2. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said source of oscillations comprises an atomic clock.
 3. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for receiving said plurality of r.f. signals comprises means for receiving said two signals.
 4. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for receiving said plurality of r.f. signals comprises means for receiving three signals.
 5. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said demodulating means comprises amplitude modulation detecting means.
 6. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said demodulating means comprises notch modulation detecting means.
 7. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said demodulating means comprises frequency shift modulation detecting means.
 8. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said demodulating means comprises pulse modulation detecting means.
 9. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 wherein said demodulating means comprises frequency modulation detecting means.
 10. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1 including mixer means responsive to signals derived from said source of oscillations and to each of said plurality of r.f. signals for reducing the frequency of each of said plurality of r.f. signals to a plurality of signals of lower frequency, and means for supplyIng said plurality of signals of lower frequency to said means for determining the phase.
 11. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 10 wherein said mixer means is operative for reducing each of said plurality of r.f. signals to a plurality of signals of identical frequency, and said means for producing reference frequency signals of predetermined phase is operative for producing reference signals having said identical frequency.
 12. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 3 wherein said receiving station is carried on a vehicle.
 13. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 12 wherein said vehicle is a ship.
 14. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 4 wherein said receiving station is carried on a device movable in three dimensions.
 15. A receiving station as claimed in claim 14 wherein said device is an aircraft.
 16. A receiving station as claimed in claim 1 including a computer means responsive to output signals from said means for comparing each of said time signals with said time reference signals and to output signals from said means for comparing the phase for producing output signal data, whereby the distance the receiving station is from each of a plurality of transmitting stations may be determined and the position of the receiving station located.
 17. A receiving station as claimed in claim 16 including means responsive to said output signal data from said computer means for storing and displaying said output signal data.
 18. A radio receiving station as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for determining the phase includes a phase comparator comprising: a counter having an output means, a clock input means, a start input means and a stop input means; means responsive to one signal of given frequency from said plurality of r.f. signals for developing a first pulse identifying a point on the waveform of said one signal; means for coupling said first pulse to said start input means; means responsive to a second signal of said given frequency from said means for producing reference frequency signals for developing a second pulse identifying a point on the waveform of said second signal corresponding to said point on the waveform of said one signal; and means for coupling said second pulse to said stop input means, whereby the phase difference between the one signal and the second signal is represented by a signal appearing on said output means. 